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LAPD's First Openly Gay Officer Charged In Domestic Violence Case

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Los Angeles Police Department's first openly gay officer will make his first court appearance Tuesday on domestic violence charges.

Retired Sgt. Mitchell Grobeson, 57, was arrested Friday after a nearly four-hour standoff inside a West Hollywood home before he surrendered to a sheriff's SWAT team.

Grobeson is being held on $250,000 bail on suspicion of corporal injury to a spouse, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He was charged with assault with a firearm and criminal threats stemming from a domestic dispute with his husband that led to Friday's standoff.

The incident began about 10:10 a.m. Friday in the 800 block of West Knoll Drive, according to the Sheriff's Information Bureau. No evacuations were ordered.

"Crisis Negotiation Team personnel made contact with the suspect requesting him to come out of the residence," according to a sheriff's department statement. "The suspect agreed and surrendered to Special Weapons Team personnel without incident."

Officials did not release further details about the incident. Anyone with information on what happened can contact the sheriff's department West Hollywood Station at (310) 855-8850.

Grobeson sued the city of Los Angeles in 1988, alleging discriminatory practices against gay and lesbian employees by the police department. He won reinstatement to the LAPD as part of a settlement to that suit but later claimed that his bosses held the suit against him and filed a second lawsuit.

The entire legal saga took 25 years to play out, and Grobeson finally settled the second lawsuit in 2013.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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